The recorder is a fantastic musical instrument whose history and associations with the repertoire allow us to go further. It was an old dream of the ensemble to create a repertoire filled with soundtracks and to present the recorder to new audiences.
Let’s get started!
We have spent the last two years adapting to the circumstances of the pandemics. We were once again able to rehearse together, which allowed us to give shape to the incredible arrangements that Gustavo de Francisco had prepared for this project.
Soundtracks for games and cartoons, played on the recorder! You can listen and try to guess the theme. Let’s see who gets the best score!
After several years of uncertainty, the four of us were able to achieve success, as we had a lot of fun making this project a reality. And now we invite you to play with us!

After the great success of the production The Art of Fugue, Quinta Essentia shows a more comprehensive panorama of German Baroque music, to be enjoyed at night.

Some pieces are iconic and well known to the audience, and could not be forgiven out of this repertoire: the Canon by J. Pachelbel and the Passacaglia in C minor by J. S. Bach.

We also pick pieces by the most successful German composer of that time, G. P. Telemann, who carries the title of most prolific composer of all time in the Guinness World Records for more than 3,000 composed musical works in his name.

Two lesser-known composers, but as brilliant as the others: D. Buxtehude well known to organists since he composed the great part of the standard organ repertoire, in addition to being nothing less than a professor of J. S. Bach; and G. Muffat, who mixed together the two great styles of Baroque music, Italian and French, having studied with Jean Baptiste Lully in France and having contact with Arcangelo Corelli in Rome, and bringing to Germany the style of the mixed tastes, also known as Les Goûts Réunis.

This project honors the great teacher who strongly influenced music in the Americas: Nadia Boulanger.

Ms. Boulanger lived with composers such as Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel in Paris, and was a student of Gabriel Fauré and Igor Stravinsky at the Paris Conservatory. But her greatest achievement was as a teacher, having formed many of the renowned composers of the 20th century such as: Almeida Prado, D. Barenboim, A. Copland, J. Coulthard, D. Diamond, J. E. Gardiner, E. Gismonti, P. Glass, J. Horovitz, Q. Jones, M. Legrand, J. Menuhin, Á. Piazzolla, C. Santoro, R. Shafer, J. Wood and others. It is amazing to note that many of her students were successful and renowned composers, which shows us how fundamental the work of an artist teacher is.

For this reason, we chose works that somehow relate to this great teacher, some of them from her influencers such as Debussy and Ravel, and others from one of her pupils, Ástor Piazzolla, who makes a stylistic counterpoint the repertoire, which of course, also shows a style closer to our culture.

Nadia Boulanger becomes the artistic mentor of this work, by her example, by her work, and for her great contribution to the development of music in the Americas.

This work by Quinta Essentia Quartet presents the music of four Brazilian gifted composers, as well as their stories and legends.

About Heitor Villa-Lobos, perhaps the greatest Brazilian composer internationally known, we point out two of his compositional series: As Bachianas Brasileiras and the Chôros. The group presents the Aria of the Bachianas nº 5, well known by the great audience, and the Chôros nº 4, considered by the composer “the most significant of the Chôros in its form and signification”, and also by other authors as the image of the simple people’s life in the big cities’ suburbs, which the melodies have an ironical lyricism, based on the traditional form of the popular dance music from the foreign countries.

About César Gerra-Peixe, we emphasize his passion for Pernambuco folklore, when in 1949, visited Recife and accepted a radio station contract to study in place the less known aspects of this tradition, that resulted in one very emblematic piece of music of this style: Mourão, where the sound of fifes and fiddles rejoin in the Maracatu rhythm.

From Radamés Gnattali, we flaunt his style that shows great mastery of Brazilian rhythms and unconventional harmonies, transcending prejudices and conducting the dancing characteristics and beautiful melodies of Brazilian music to the concert music. A guest of honor for this work, which lends us his Lenda and other works, written originally for string quartet and arranged by the Quinta Essentia for modern recorders.

Last but not least, we present the original masterpiece Flautata Doce by Daniel Wolff, PhD and composer with a Grammy Award in his resume, given to the quartet by the composer himself.

With the cultural in influence of the native Americans and white people, together with the mixture of the European instruments with the complexity of the Brazilian music, we have the Caboclo. The legend, the songs and the mixture of the Caboclo repertoire for recorder quartet will be marked in the memory of whom are open to listen!

Summary

With the cultural in influence of the native Americans and white people, together with the mixture of the European instruments with the complexity of the Brazilian music, we have the Caboclo. The legend, the songs and the mixture of the Caboclo repertoire for recorder quartet will be marked in the memory of whom are open to listen!

The fugue, a musical genre that has existed since the Renaissance, reached its peak in the Baroque period thanks to the master of fugues Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). The renowned German composer left us a manuscript to 4 voices without indicating specific entitled “Die Kunst der Fuge” – The Art of Fugue.

This masterpiece, which Bach composed at the end of his life, leaves us perplexed by its perfection and by the musical enigmas of its legacy. A “big task”for Quinta Essentia quartet, which takes as a basis the revelation of the possibilities of a musical instrument that reached its peak in the same period of fugal excellence: the Baroque.

This example by Bach shows us his versatility and creativity in composing 90 minutes of music in D minor, with its mathematical variations, simple fugues, double and triple fugues and mirrored fugues that if the intricacies of this art do not matter to us, when enjoying the music, it is enough just to listen to the endless possibilities of playing with the material of the musical art: the sound.

Would the Art of Fugue have remained an unfinished work, or would Bach have written part of the work, and invited other composers to finish it? What is certain is that he signed the work musically in its final subject making use of musical notes B-A-C-H (in German notation where the “B” correspond to B flat and “H” to the B natural). 270 years later, Quinta Essentia presents this masterpiece on historical instruments.

The Art of Fugue shows Bach’s complete mastery of the most complex form of musical expression within classical music, known as counterpoint, and the complete mastery by Quinta Essentia of the art of making music with recorders.

 

Summary

This masterpiece of the renowned composer Johann Sebastian Bach, composed at the end of his life, leaves us perplexed by its perfection and the musical enigmas of its legacy Would the Art of Fugue have remained an unfinished work, or would Bach have written part of the work and invited other composers to finish it? What is certain is that he signed the work musically in its final subject and 270 years later, Quinta Essentia presents this masterpiece on historical instruments.

Making chamber music with recorders is like travelling through both the old and the new world of musical expressions. In Brazil, the relationship with the old fascinates us by the creative risk we run in our musical interpretations. Artistically, we have the freedom which poetic license offers us through the distancing from the familiarity of the aesthetic rules of European music. However, the relationship with the new is a taste of the vanguard, of being “at the front”, opening new settings for the foreign instrument, among them the universe of Brazilian music. Falando Brasileiro is full of original compositions for recorders.  

This repertoire introduces the concept that a musical instrument only remains alive while musicians make use of it, and while composers are interested in writing and arranging music for that instrument or particular instrumental formation.

Falando Brasileiro is filled with original songs for recorders and arrangements of very well known tunes. Some works were composed or arranged specifically for the group, as a result of the group’s partnership developed with other musicians.

This album also features coincidences of the music world. On June 2nd, 1980, the composer Rafael dos Santos marked the arrival of his first son with his original composition for recorders called Choro do Fábio; and it was the same Fábio who offered the arrangement of the 1ª Suíte Infantil, by the Brazilian composer Guerra-Peixe (1914-1993) to Quinta Essentia. Another big surprise was the present the group received at Christmas 2011 from the renowned Dutch recorder player Paul Leenhouts, an arrangement of the song Desafinado by Tom Jobim.

As to original compositions, we present a work by Eduardo Escalante, an Argentine composer based in Brazil, which was composed in the 70s in the midst of the enthusiasm for the recorder in São Paulo. This makes us very proud because Escalante returned to composing for recorder quartet in 2011, dedicating a piece to Quinta Essentia.

The German composer living in southern Brazil, Bruno Kiefer (1923-1987), stated that the “artist must have roots in the land”. According to him, artists must understand the nature of economic, political and social issues through poets. Therefore his Poemas da Terra, original music for recorders, is presented here as an example of the writing of this composer.

The recorder, via Quinta Essentia, is speaking Brazilian. To the composers who seek the Brazilian sonority for their compositions, and arrangers who look for the Brazilian accent to their musical creation, here is an example.

With this new work, using instruments providing a “speech”, the group presents the Brazilian accent: a blend of different rhythms inherited from African music and flowing melody inherited from European music. Speaking Brazilian is how Quinta Essentia tells us the stories of this reuniting of musical and national poems.

Thus, Quinta Essentia makes known Brazilian music for recorder which is not known by the wider public, and makes arrangements of well established pieces for the instrument, contributing to the recorder literature and practice.

 

Summary

Falando Brasileiro is filled with original music for recorder quartet and arrangements of Brazilian popular tunes. In this new work, using instruments that provide a “speech”, the group presents the Brazilian accent: a mixture of different rhythms inherited of African music and fluent melody inherited from European music, Speaking Brazilian is how Quinta Essentia tells us the stories of this bringing together of musical and national poems.

“What kind of instruments are that?”

The recorder features a family of instruments in different sizes and sounds, and Quinta Essentia uses several recorders in their performances. The instruments are chosen according to their sound so as to get the best results at each new engagement. Playing copies of original musical instruments from various periods of Western music history is part of the research which Quinta Essentia is developing: a historically informed performance of music for recorder quartet, in addition to seeking different timbres, effects and technique, allied to the research and preparation of the contemporary repertoire for recorder.

The ensemble owns copies of Renaissance instruments: a consort of 9 recorders of different sizes ranges made by the British luthier Adrian Brown. They use copies of Baroque instruments of the 17^th and 18^th centuries made by luthiers from various countries (Holland, France, Germany, Switzerland, England, Canada, Japan and Brazil), and also modern instruments such as the Paetzold’s Square Recorders.

The square recorder is the result of research by the German makers Joachim and Herbert Paetzold. In the recorder literature there are instruments in different sizes that are usually cylindrical. Herbert Petzold developed square recorders similar to the corresponding cylindrical ones, based on organ pipes, since the pipes in this instrument work like recorders. There are organs in which the pipes are square and made out of wood, so starting from this principle, Paetzold made square recorders. The square recorders, relative to the corresponding cylindrical models, are smaller in length and have a faster response to the articulation, providing a big difference in the sound for playing modern, contemporary and Brazilian popular music. Nowadays, these instruments are made by Jo Kunnath

Besides square recorders, Quinta Essentia also uses other modern recorders such as the Helder, and Tarasov harmonic recorders, the Dream Recorders, and the Eagle Recorder. These instruments, which were developed with the aim of extending the historical recorder’s sound capabilities, feature mechanisms that permit perfectly smooth playing and even produce a change in timbre. Incredible instruments, they completely fulfill the needs of a robust yet at the same time a light and delicate sound, being designed to perform works of the 20^th and 21^st centuries with panache.

Baroque recorders A=442Hz

• Garklein – Kueng
• Sopranino Denner – Mollenhauer
• Soprano – Aesthé
• Soprano Denner – Mollenhauer
• Transitional Soprano – Doris Kulossa
• Soprano – Marcos Ximenes
• Alto Bressan – Etienne Holmblat
• Alto Denner-Edition – Mollenhauer
• Alto Marsyas – Kueng
• Tenor Bressan – Marcos Ximenes
• Bass YRB-61 SP – Yamaha
• Great-Bass YRGB-61 – Yamaha

Historical baroque recorders A=415Hz

• Sopranino – Roberto Holz
• Soprano Terton – Hans Coolsma
• Soprano – Takeyama
• Soprano – Roberto Holz
• Soprano 4th flute in B flat – Tim Cranmore
• G Alto Bressan – Etienne Holmblat
• Alto Denner – Doris Kulossa
• Alto Debey – Peter van der Poel
• Alto Denner – Roberto Holz
• Voice Flute Denner – Peter van der Poel
• Voice Flute Bressan – Roberto Holz
• Tenor – Takeyama
• Tenor 4th flute in B flat – Tim Cranmore
• Bass YRB-61 SP MJB-415 – Yamaha
• Great-Bass YRGB-61 MJGB-415 – Yamaha (special design for Quinta Essentia)

Renaissance consort Bassano A=466Hz – Adrian Brown

• D Soprano
• C Soprano
• G Alto
• G Alto
• F Alto
• C Tenor
• C Tenor
• F Basseto
• F Basseto
• Bb Bass

Modern recorders A=442Hz

• Modern Soprano – Mollenhauer
• Modern Soprano – Mollenhauer
• Modern Alto – Mollenhauer
• Alto Eagle – Adri Breukink
• Alto Helder (special version by Karel van Steenhoven 2015′) – Mollenhauer
• Electric Alto Elody – Mollenhauer
• Tenor Helder – Mollenhauer
• Tenor Superio – Kueng

Dream recorders A=442Hz

• Soprano Dream Edition – Mollenhauer
• Soprano Dream Edition – Mollenhauer
• Alto Dream Edition – Mollenhauer
• Tenor Dream Edition – Mollenhauer
• Bass Dream Edition – Mollenhauer

Square recorders A=442Hz

• F Basseto Paetzold/Kunnath
• C Great-Bass Paetzold
• F Contrabass Paetzold
• C Sub-Greatbass Paetzold

 

Chamada permanente para compositores/arranjadores

A literatura dos instrumentos musicais foi acrescida através do incentivo proporcionado por parcerias entre intérpretes e compositores. Por volta da década de 1940, a flauta doce, um instrumento musical extremamente antigo, assumiu novamente o seu papel artístico e, mais tarde, o seu papel na educação musical.

Na década de 20, Arnold Dolmetsch (1858-1940) iniciou a construção de flautas doces no Reino Unido. Mais tarde, em 1926 na Alemanha, suas flautas foram tocadas iniciando assim um forte movimento do instrumento naquele país. Por volta dos anos 30, ainda na Alemanha, a flauta doce foi se estabelecendo como instrumento para crianças e, em 1932, Hindemith (1895-1963) escreve seu trio para flautas doces.

Todos os filhos de Dolmetsch tocavam instrumentos musicais porém, Carl Dolmetsch (1911-1997), seu filho caçula, era um virtuose da flauta doce. Pouco tempo depois muitos compositores escreveram para Carl dentre os quais estão Arnold Cooke (1906-2005), Georges Migot (1891-1976) e Hans Gal (1890-1987). Foi através desta iniciativa que hoje podemos contar com obras importantes de diferentes linguagens e de grande valor técnico e musical para a flauta doce.

O mesmo ocorreu na década de 1960 na Holanda, com compositores europeus e japoneses escrevendo música para o grande intérprete da flauta doce no momento: Frans Brüggen (1934-2014).

No Brasil, na década de 1970, com os concursos de flauta doce do Conservatório do Brooklin em São Paulo, muitos compositores também se dispuseram a escrever, e hoje, deste movimento nos restam obras de grande importância para a literatura brasileira da flauta doce. Como quarteto, os flautistas do Quinta Essentia contribuem para que esses movimentos composicionais não terminem. Por este motivo criamos o Projeto Identidade.

Na busca pelo repertório para quarteto de flautas doces surgiu a vontade de interpretar peças inéditas e arranjos e divulgá-las para que se tornem acessíveis a todos que desenvolvem trabalhos com a flauta doce. Ampliando as possibilidades de repertório, o Projeto Identidade é uma contribuição do Quinta Essentia para com a flauta doce e a sua literatura.

O projeto IDENTIDADE é uma parceria.

O Quinta Essentia coloca-se à disposição de compositores que queiram escrever para flauta doce e para a formação quarteto desse instrumento, comprometendo-se a participar do processo de composição auxiliando na busca da resolução de aspectos técnicos do instrumento e principalmente na divulgação da obra em concertos e em futuros registros fonográficos.

Infelizmente nem todas as obras enviadas serão apresentadas em concertos ou registradas em CD, pois essas escolhas dependem das propostas artísticas do grupo. Contudo, temos um projeto de disponibilizar essas músicas de maneira gratuita através do nosso site para divulgar o trabalho desses compositores e também esse repertório. Essa elaboração acontecerá em breve para a ocasião da comemoração dos 10 anos do grupo (2016), mas dependemos de patrocínio.

Em 2007 iniciamos este projeto recebendo obras e contatos de vários compositores interessados, o que possibilitou a estreia de algumas peças no Concurso Nacional Jovens Cameristas Petrobrás em Londrina no Paraná e registro fonográfico em nossos CDs.

Compositores e arranjadores que estão colaborando com o Quinta Essentia desde 2007:

• Alfredo Votta com as composições “Per noctes” e “Veni Creator Spiritus”
• André Vidal com a composição “Ad Libitum”
• Antonio Celso Ribeiro com a composição “Le Jeu du Roi qui Jamais ne Ment” – apresentada no concurso Petrobrás (2007)
• Calimerio Soares (1944-2011) com a composição “Prá lá, Prá cá!”
• Cláudio Menandro com o arranjo “Descascando Uva” – CD La Marca (2008)
• Daniel Wolff com a composição “Flautata Doce” – abertura do site (2015) e SACD Caboclo (2020)
• Eduardo Escalante com a composição “Quatro Peças para Flautas doces” – CD Falando Brasileiro (2014)
• Fábio dos Santos com o arranjo da “1ª suite infantil” de Guerra-Peixe – CD Falando Brasileiro (2014)
• Fernando Mattos com a composição “Aos Quatro Ventos”
• Julio Bellodi com a composição “Sonho Novo” – CD La Marca (2008)
• Leonardo Aldrovandi com a composição “Itaquera”
• Marcel de Carvalho com as composições “Primeiro amor” e “Penta”
• Paul Leenhouts com o arranjo de “Desafinado” de Tom Jobim – CD Falando Brasileiro (2014)
• Rafael dos Santos com o arranjo de “Choro pro Zé” do Guinga – CD Falando Brasileiro (2014)
• Sérgio “Torquato” Leal com a composição “A ninfa perdida na metrópole”
• Tim Rescala com a composição A Banda de Pífaros do Rei Arthur – SACD Caboclo (2020)

Sobre o instrumentarium disponível

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O Quinta Essentia Quarteto utiliza instrumentos antigos e modernos, e cada um dos instrumentos possui características próprias de timbre, tessitura, e técnica. Para conhecer quais instrumentos são usados pelo grupo, acesse nossa página do Instrumentarium.

A flauta doce encanta o público e os artistas pela sua simplicidade, e ao mesmo tempo, exige dos músicos uma grande flexibilidade na expressão musical, e demanda dos flautistas profissionais uma grande quantidade de instrumentos ao apresentar repertórios variados.

Dentre todos os instrumentos, talvez a flauta doce seja o instrumento que permite a maior variação de articulação, pois literalmente falamos ao tocar, fazendo da articulação a maior característica da flauta doce. Desde a ausência da  articulação até um ataque explosivo, o músico mostra sua criatividade musical com a mistura da técnica do ar com o movimento da língua ao tocar, parte esta que é geralmente subestimada por àqueles que desconhecem a flauta doce. Os dedos acabam sendo a parte mais simples e visual na técnica do instrumento.

A flauta doce não é um instrumento temperado, pois podemos mudar a afinação durante a performance de várias maneiras: pela pressão do ar, por dedilhados alternativos ou mesmo por alterações no instrumento. Fato este que permite que a flauta doce toque em diversos temperamentos diferentes, desde o temperamento igual ou temperado da música moderna, usando microtons, e até a chamada Afinação Justa ou Pura, variando a afinação das notas conforme sua função na harmonia e em cada acorde.

Além da técnica básica, a flauta doce permite diversos efeitos e técnicas usadas na música contemporânea, das quais cito alguns:

• Frulato – feito vibrando a língua ou garganta ao soprar
• Ruído branco – soprar na janela ou em um furo, produzindo som sem altura definida
• Glissando
• Vibrato de dedo
• Micro-intervalos
• Multifônicos – dedilhados especiais que produzem dois ou mais sons simultâneos com uma espécie de oscilação
• Humming – cantar enquanto toca

Flautas barrocas

As flautas barrocas são as flautas doces mais conhecidas e utilizadas. Todas elas possuem tessituras de pelo menos duas oitavas e uma segunda maior, e os instrumentos geralmente são afinados em Dó ou Fá (ver tabela de tessituras acima), porém não exclusivamente nestas notas. A penúltima nota da extensão na região aguda (Dó# nas flautas em dó e Fá# nas flautas em fá) é obtida tampando o orifício inferior do instrumento com a perna, e por isso não pode ser alcançada em passagens muito virtuosísticas. Além disso, alguns instrumentos permitem notas mais agudas que as descritas na tabela em uma segunda ou terça, porém geralmente o som será gritado e em alguns casos, ligeiramente desafinado.

Flautas modernas

As flautas modernas foram desenvolvidas por alguns luthiers buscando a melhoria de alguma característica, tais como timbre, tessitura ou dinâmica. Em nosso blog, você encontrará um artigo que explica sobre toda A Família da Flauta Doce.

Ainda sobre a tessitura destes instrumentos, temos as flautas quadradas (baixo, grande-baixo, contrabaixo e sub-grandebaixo) com a mesma tessitura das barrocas, e as flautas harmônicas Eagle, Tarasov e Helder que possuem tessitura ampliada, porém as notas da 3.a oitava não permitem passagens muito virtuosísticas.

Flautas renascentistas

Estes instrumentos foram desenvolvidos para serem tocados apenas em grupos homogêneos e usados como um coro. A sua tessitura é menor que as flautas barrocas, tendo apenas uma oitava e uma sexta no total, embora alguns instrumentos específicos (geralmente os mais agudos) possam tocar notas além da sua tessitura normal com dedilhados especiais.

Estas flautas possuem tubo largo, a mesma característica que limita a sua extensão dá à ela um grande diferencial no timbre que é brilhante e agradável, geralmente considerada pelos flautistas em todo o mundo o modelo sonoro da flauta doce. Também por causa das suas dimensões internas, o seu dedilhado é mais complexo do que a flauta barroca, e a sua afinação é baseada em terças puras no temperamento Mezzotônico. Por esta característica, o melhor resultado sonoro se dá pela utilização da escala diatônica natural do instrumento, evitando assim os dedilhados de forquilha que produzem um som menos brilhante e velado.

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